The invention relates to a process for manufacturing industrial detergents and industrial detergent components in granular or agglomerate form on a dry material basis in an essentially horizontally oriented fluidized bed.
It is known in the production of detergents or industrial detergent components to manufacture the respective individual components by spray drying or spray granulation and then to mix the so-manufactured individual components according to the formula. A unification of different individual particles does not occur with the mixing by this process.
It is disadvantageous that, depending on the quality of the mixing of the an individual components, a more or less non-homogenous distribution of the different component results. During transport and in storage the components can easily become separated inside the packaging or container. Due to the large proportion of dust and the tendency toward separation, the quality of the detergent or detergent components is considerably worsened. This acts in a very disadvantageous manner, since in most cases these dusts are to be classified as harmful to health. Furthermore, with increasing particle sizes there exists an ever-increasing tendency toward dust explosions.
An object of the invention is to develop a process for manufacturing industrial detergents and industrial detergent components in granular or agglomerate form on a dry basis, which distinguish themselves from the known granulates by a homogenous composition of the granulate or agglomerate composed of the individual raw material components, including the binder and the moisture content, which have a high resistance to mechanical stresses, which are easily dispersible in water, and which are low in dust or almost dust-free.
The above object is achieved according to the invention by the process for manufacturing industrial detergents and industrial detergent components as a finished product in granulate or agglomerate form on a dry basis in an essentially horizontally oriented fluidized bed, comprising:
a) performing different process steps, including heating, agglomeration, coating, drying and cooling, for manufacturing the finished product in a single or multiple stage fluidized bed;
b) supplying solid powdered starting material in a first process step to the fluidized bed in an area of fluidizing space;
c) supplying process air to the different process steps from beneath the fluidized bed, wherein a process temperature or supply temperature for agglomeration of the product is a function of a decomposition temperature of individual material components of the finished product and lies in a range of about 20 to 300xc2x0 C., and the process air for cooling has a temperature g in a range of about xe2x88x9220 to +30xc2x0 C.;
d) supplying a binder, water and/or one or more material components in the form of solutions, suspensions or melts to the solid in the fluidized bed in the area of the fluidizing space over an entire process range using a spray or injection system, wherein the dry portion in the spray medium comprises 0 to 100%;
e) fluidizing the individual components in the area of the fluidizing space to form a solid mixture comprising granulates of homogenous composition;
f) reducing a flow speed of the process air supplied from below to the fluidizing space in an expansion zone located above the fluidizing space and formed by cross-sectional widenings, such that a pre-separation of particles entrained from the fluidizing space and a return of the pre-separated particles into the fluidizing space occur; and
g) separating process dust with a dedusting mechanism in an integrated filter system adjoining above the expansion zone and returning the process dust to the fluidizing space. Advantageous embodiments of the process are set forth in dependent claims.
The manufacture of the product is accomplished by fluidized bed agglomeration/granulation in an essentially horizontally oriented fluidized bed. In the process, a binder and/or components in the form of solutions, suspensions, or melts are to added to the solid material in the fluidized bed via an injection system. The binder content in the product can amount to about 1 to 35 mass percent. Through the energy introduced via the process air, drying and compacting of the agglomerate/granulate forming in the injection area of the fluidized bed occur. In this connection, the supply temperature of the process air is from about 20xc2x0 C. up to the decomposition temperature of the individual materials. By adjusting the drying parameters, the product moisture can be varied. Values starting at 0 mass percent upwards are possible depending on the liquid intake. The particles entrained by the process air from the fluidized bed, particularly the fine dust, are separated from the air in an expansion zone provided with cross-sectional widenings integrated in the fluidized bed apparatus and in a filter system connected to it, and are conveyed back into the fluidized bed and agglomerated there. A low-dust or dust-free product thereby results having a granularity range of about 0.2 to 2.0 mm.
The above-described process for manufacturing the end product is carried out in different process stages, for example heating up, agglomeration, coating, drying, and cooling, one after the other, in a single or multiple stage fluidized bed.
The advantage of the process according to the invention for manufacturing industrial detergents and industrial detergent components in granular or agglomerate form on a dry basis consists in that by the fluidization of the material in the fluidized bed, a uniformly homogenous composition of individual granules or agglomerates results from the individual raw material components including the binders and the appropriate moisture. A separation of the components can thus no longer occur.
The granulate or agglomerate exhibits a unified quality. The manufacture of the granules or agglomerate using fluidized bed agglomeration/granulation furthermore has the advantage that a solid, final product results having little rub-off and little dust, and which is easily dispersible in water.
A further advantage of the process according to the invention consists in that by the complete encapsulation of the process by carrying out the process guidance in a single apparatus, a health risk by contact with the supplied dusts is prevented; In addition, the region of the dust explosion danger is reduced to the interior of the fluidized bed apparatus.